


Your cheating heart.

by distractionpie



Series: Band Of Brothers Week [2]
Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Misunderstandings, Multi, Pre-Relationship, mentions of adultery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-02-20
Packaged: 2018-09-25 19:22:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9840500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/distractionpie/pseuds/distractionpie
Summary: Eugene is a little sweet on the redhead who works in the hospital cafeteria. He comes to see he's not the only one.(Band of Brothers Week Day 2 - Ship)





	

Gene hasn't slept in over thirty hours when he finally makes his way into the hospital cafeteria, and he nearly gives up on the idea of food in favour of just laying down on one of the benches and trying to get some shut eye when he sees how long the line is, snaking back and forth around the counters, except then he spots a head of copper hair by the tills.

His redhead. The young cafeteria worker who always smiles at Gene. Truthfully he's not sure if he's special or if the guy just smiles like that at everyone, but there's something about the way his lips curl up and the flash of pearly white teeth that always makes Gene feel special even if it isn't true. He's never really managed to have a proper talk with him, Gene's few breaks always seem to fall in the cafeteria's busy periods, but the few moments of small talk over the till are sometimes the only non-work related conversation Gene gets all day and he cherishes them.

There's only one more person ahead of him inline, and he's feeling more at ease just in anticipation, but his heart stops when the guy at the till leans right out of the counter and says, "Hey babe."

His cutlery rattles a little as he puts his tray down to hard, the little bubble of peace within him bursting.

Of course his redhead is taken. Not his redhead at all, and it was a silly daydream to have when Gene has only ever spoken to him while he was working. He keeps his head down as he pays for his food, knows he’s probably being rude, that his daydream is his own responsibility, but still…

It feels like a loss.

*

Gene’s got a dozen things to be getting on with that aren’t breaking for lunch but his stomach growls loudly, and he recalls at the times he's told patients about the harm they're doing themselves by not giving their bodies the fuel they need to work with. Not to mention all the times he’s issued similar reminders to his fellow doctors, nurses, and interns.

He goes to lunch.

Where once the timing of his breaks with the redhead’s shifts was a pleasure, now it’s just uncomfortable. He’s going to be polite though, going to meet those smiling brown eyes and say, ‘Nice weather’ and maybe ‘quieter than usual in here today, huh?’.

And he thinks he does a good job, eye contact and a casual demeanour, no sign of his crush when they’re interrupted by a blonde woman ducking under the cordon that separates the line from the rest of the cafeteria and cries, “Babe! Guess what just happened!”

She’s pretty, although Gene can’t help but wonder what happened to the guy from last week.

The redhead is clearly more interested in her gossip than anything else and Gene pays quickly, leaves without bothering to say goodbye.

*

The next time Gene goes to the cafeteria, as he’s getting in line he sees the blonde woman from last week kissing the redhead on the cheek before waving goodbye, but just before he reaches the front of the time a guy he’s never seen before comes out of the kitchen and calls, “Hey babe, I need you back here a minute,” and the redhead beckons over a co-worker to take over his till and ducks into the back, as if he hadn’t been getting cosy with his blonde just moments earlier.

Gene stares.

There’s a small part of him that can’t help but think that perhaps if he'd made a move, the redhead might have taken him up on it, partner or not. It sits sour in his gut.

*

The annoying thing is that even though he should have dismissed his little crush when he realised the redhead was involved with someone, certainly should have when it came clear that there were several someones all calling him 'babe' without a care in the world, he can't stop thinking about the situation.  

Does this one know about the other two, he wonders? Perhaps he should be charitable and assume that all four of them are aware of the entanglement, that they have a carefully coordinated schedule that lets them all steal away for date night together; that they curl up on couches together, the redhead in the middle of them all; taking turns to swap between beds.

Then again, perhaps they don't. Perhaps that sweet face hides a scheming mind, keeping each partner secret from the rest despite their physical proximity. Fortunately the redhead isn't on the till today as he reaches the front of the cafeteria line and hands over his meal-card.

The young man at the till, boy really, swiped it, the frowned and swiped it again. Gene cussed, realisation dawning.

"I'm sorry sir," the boy said, "But you don't... you don't have enough in your account."

The boy looked nervous but Gene just shrugged, taking his card back and waving the kid off. He'd grabbed a few extra coffees in the past couple of days and not topped up his plan accordingly. The meal-cards were some genius hospital administrator’s idea to improve security be reducing the amount of cash on site, but Gene just found them annoying.

 He spends the next six hours on the ward with an empty stomach, and had nipped out into the hall for a coffee when he hears a voice calling out, "Hey! Hey, Doc Roe!"

 He turns, and oh, it's the redhead from the cafeteria, waving wildly in his direction - far too shamelessly attention grabbing for Gene to pretend he hasn't seen him. He sighs shakily, and makes his way over, too exhausted to even think about what it means that the redhead knows his name.

"Hey," he says uncomfortably. 

"Julian said you didn't grab any lunch because you'd forgotten your pass card," he says, holding out a prepackaged sandwich. Tuna salad, Eugene's favourite. "Anyway, I figured you could use a snack."

"Oh," Gene says, startled, "You didn't have to-"

The redhead cuts him off. "No, look, we keep extra cards back there to swipe for people when they're short. Or when they forget their cards. Or the cards just aren't working. I miss the cash system. Anyway, most of the guys know that, it's just that you got our high schooler intern. You ever get caught short again, just tell whoever is on tills that Babe said to put it on the emergency cards, okay?"

"Babe?" he says.

"Yeah, Babe," the redhead says. "Aww shit... you don't know my- I guess we never were properly introduced. Sorry, I didn't even think, I just saw your name on your ID and remembered it because just calling you that one hot doctor was getting confusing, since everyone in the cafeteria has different opinions on who's the hottest."

"I'm sorry," Gene says. He feels a little lost. His cheeks are heating and there's a faint stirring of something in his gut. He can think of at least six serious ailments it could be, but more likely it's just embarrassment.

"Lemme introduce myself properly," the redhead says, thrusting out a hand, "I'm Babe Heffron."

_Oh._

Gene wraps his hand around Babe's, shaking it uncertainly. "Evenin’ Babe. I'm Eugene."

Babe smiles, and Eugene realises that although his crush has been stifled by the confusing discoveries of the past few weeks, it hasn't actually faded at all.

**Author's Note:**

> I have been rather infatuated with the idea of a fic in which Babe's nickname results in humorous misunderstandings about his relationship status. This is a simplified version of that concept (minus much humour), since I was unlikely to ever write the full idea and I needed a quick idea for day two!


End file.
